Just a Dream
by bleachlover1999
Summary: Tsuna just couldn't believe it. Were they real? Those dreams, all those memories, being Vongola Decimo, the mafia, and his guardians… For the first time ever, Tsuna unleashed his flames, and the Sawada's residence exploded. T for language in later chapters.
1. The Beginning: Hamburgers

A/N: Just couldn't resist trying to write this kind of story!

Summary: Tsuna couldn't believe it. Those dreams, all those memories, being Vongola Decimo, the mafia, and his guardians… For the first time ever, Tsuna unleashed his flames, and the Sawada's residence exploded.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

_"… Vongola rings, Varia, Millefiore, Arcobaleno…" _

_ Tsuna held his throbbing head, mumbling all the names and things he'd seen and heard in those strange dreams. His brain felt like it was going to explode, as overloaded with information and memories as it was, but a single memory replayed itself over and over again in Tsuna's mind._

_ Blood._

_ Crimson, sticky, blood._

_Tsuna's limbs were shaking. From shock, fear, or exhaustion, he wasn't sure._

_Blood, so much blood. They tainted almost every single one of his memories, whether they were from 'playing', 'training', 'fighting', or 'attacking'. There was just so much blood, too much for him. Sure, blood from bullying and scrapes he could handle, but not the kind he'd seen in those… dreams._

_The blood he saw had felt much more serious. It wasn't just a red liquid that oozed out whenever he tripped and scraped his knee, but the life essence that leaked out into horrifying pools of scarlet. People __**died**__ without it. _

_ He could feel the power inside him ready to burst. His flames. _

_ It was overpowering, the urge to let it go, to feel that familiar power and calm flow through him, the warmth on his hands and forehead. It was as though his body had lived through all those memories and his flames had been accumulating, pooling into a dangerous amount of power._

_ But those very flames had drawn blood before. It had caused people pain, suffering, and much more. These flames could __**kill**_. _These very flames that he felt incredible urge and apprehension to release… _

_ "Guardians… Hayato, Takeshi, Big brother, Mukuro, Kyoya, Chrome, Lambo… Reborn."_

_ Tsuna's new found flames were unleashed, and the Sawada residence exploded. _

_ Somewhere in Namimori, three people fainted, each feeling something burning painfully inside of them. _

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"T-tsu-kun…?"

Tsuna head was pounding, and when he finally managed to crack open his eyelids (which felt like it weighted a thousand pounds), his vision was blurry and unfocused. He shook his head and blinked a few times to clear his sight before gasping, choking when smoke got into his lungs. "Mom!"

His mother was trapped in a small mountain of wood and stones, hands over her mouth to try to prevent inhaling too much smoke. Tsuna now realized that the smoke came from the burning ruins of what used to be their house. "Are you alright?"

His mother could barely nod at him, lest she bumped her head into the debris above her. She wasn't really being crushed under all the wreckage. There was a small cave formed by several planks of wood, and Nana had a little space to move. Albeit not very much, it was better than nothing.

"Yes, I'm fine, Tsu-kun. A-and I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?" Tsuna inquired, crawling closer to his mother. One of his ankles stung like crazy, and he somehow knew that it was just sprained or twisted, not broken.

"I was just cooking dinner and then the house e-exploded… I must've accidently done something to the gas... Oh, I'm so sorry, Tsu-kun, I should have been more careful!" There were tears collecting in Nana's eyes by the time she finished. Normally, the sight of his mother's tears would've made Tsuna feel like a part of him had died and torn between comforting her to the best of her abilities and storming out to beat the living shit out of whoever or whatever had made her cry. That 'whoever' was usually his dad.

But this time, he was torn between comforting her and beating himself up. His mother was crying, thinking that this was all her fault when it was really _Tsuna's. _He was the biggest idiot in the universe for making his mom cry, Tsuna decided, but she came first.

"It's not your fault, mom. Maybe the gas just malfunctioned, or the wires were getting old. It could never be your fault and you know it, mom."

That stopped the flow of tears, but Nana's eyes have yet to dry. Seeing that made Tsuna want to kill himself 6 times, bring himself back to life, and ask Mukuro and Hibari to beat him up again –

Tsuna almost ate dirt when he stumbled at the thought of his 'dreams/memories' episode. He could imagine it crystal clear in his mind, Mukuro smiling creepily with that sadistic glint in his mismatched eyes, the trident in his hands glinting eerily in whatever light there was in the background. And Hibari, the ever stoic expression with a hint of bloodlust, tonfas gripped tightly.

Mukuro scared him, and even in his dreams, Tsuna could sense that bad feeling that always accompanied the illusionist whenever he was nearby. Hibari was imprinted in his mind as the blood-thirsty prefect who bit anyone who disrupted Namimori's peace to death. And yet, another feeling conflicted with the foreboding Tsuna could feel inside of him.

A feeling of safety and warmth.

Mukuro was still a creepy sadist with a weird hairdo, but he had another side too. Tsuna could see that he truly cared for Chrome, maintaining her illusionary organs even after he had his own body back. Heck, he only became the Mist Guardian to protect Ken and Chikusa! He had also saved Tsuna before despite his claims of resenting the Mafia. He'd saved him and his family before by delaying Byakuran and helping in the final battle. This, of course, was denied with Mukuro saying that he still needed Tsuna alive to possess him. Somewhere _very_ deep in his twisted black heart, he had the ability to feel compassion. Somewhere _very, very, VERY, _deep.

Hibari was the same (he would beat Tsuna up into a pulp if he even suggested that he had something in common with the illusionist, but that's just how Hibari was). A noble solitary cloud that watched over its family from far away, never held down by anything or anyone.

Namimori was an exception.

Tsuna had his ass saved countless times by Hibari too, his guardians as well. Helping Yamamoto in the Ring Battle, bouncing the ring up to Gokudera, saving the Rain Guardian and Gokudera from Gamma, and a whole lot more.

They were his eternal nightmares that would haunt him even after death (Mukuro could come visit him in hell. Tsuna _was_ a Mafioso), but also his… friends. Frenemies would probably be more accurate. Probably.

Nana's sudden coughing shook Tsuna from his thoughts, and he immediately reached out for his mother.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" But Tsuna knew the reason after a single glance around him. The fire was still growing, and the smoke was getting thicker. Where're those goddamn fire trucks when you need them?!

His mother tried to answer, but her coughing worsened when she opened her mouth and even Tsuna was starting to cough lightly. He had to get them out of here, but how?

Slowly, Tsuna's gaze drifted down to his hands, admittedly expecting to see his Vongola Ring on his finger, as it always had (in his dreams), but only seeing his bare hands. He clenched them, thinking about the blood that been shed by the power he was wishing for now.

Had he killed anyone in those 'memories' before? As far as he could recall, no, but nobody can remember everything perfectly. Maybe those dreams had skipped over them.

Tsuna was already sensing a strong longing for those pure sky flames, just _aching _to light up his hands and forehead with them as easily as breathing…

One look at his mother hardened his resolve.

_'I need to get out of here,' _Tsuna concentrated hard, brows furrowed. _'I need to get mom out of here before she breathes in too much smoke. I need to save her, _now._'_

Tsuna couldn't suppress his excitement when his subconscious brushed against familiar warmth. He wasn't sure whether the sudden heat emitting from his hands and forehead was his imagination or not, but it felt _great_. He could just feel the wind whipping through his hair as he propelled himself into the sky, the bird-eye view of the world he always had in the sky, taste the cleaner air from above…

But there still weren't any flames.

'_Why isn't it working?!'_ Tsuna wanted to scream. His mother was already showing the signs of feeling faint. _'I need to save her! So why won't they appear when I need them?'_

Tsuna was on the verge of going hysterical at the sight of the flames closing in. Those were definitely _not _the flames he needed.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Hibari has only fainted a few times in his life.

The first time was when he was a mere child. He had a high fever, and naturally, his young body had fainted, too weak battling the illness.

The other times were in fights, the last one 8 years ago, and Hibari hasn't fainted ever since, clinging onto consciousness when others would have passed out. He always fell unconscious after beating up the herbivores, so it wasn't like he really lost or anything. He was a carnivore, and he was different from those weak herbivores. He was strong.

So you can imagine why he was pissed when he came to. Hibari Kyoya did _not_ pass out in random alleys, no matter what the reason.

But there was another thing that caused his irritation.

Something was just _tugging_ on his insides, as though a magnet had been planted inside of him, and some outer force was trying to pull him to its side. It was irritating, to say the least.

Hibari sat there for a moment, trying to figure out why he had fainted, and just what this pull inside of him was. He was only shook out of his thoughts when the pulling turned into a urgent burning, as though something was happening, something that he would regret if he didn't do something about it now.

Now, Hibari didn't really believe in that Fate crap, but he _did_ believe in his instincts and senses. He decided to check this thing out, whatever it was. There wasn't much else that he had to do, after all. And so he stood, exiting the dark alley.

_'Where to now…' _

Just when he was about to go down the right path, Hibari's sharp senses immediately caught a faint whiff of smoke coming from the opposite direction, and it was growing stronger by the minute.

_Fire!_

Was that why he felt a burning heat in him? Hibari wondered, shooting off in the direction of the acrid tang the smoke gave off, noting the orange glow of flames that emitted from over a few buildings.

'_No matter,' _Hibari thought firmly. _'Someone was disturbing the peace of Namimori, and they will be __**bitten to death**__.'_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna's vision was starting to blur from all the smoke he'd inhaled, and his mother was worse than him, although he has to credit her for not fainting. She wasn't the one who'd been trained by a Devil's Spawn of a tutor. A thought tickled at the back of his mind.

_'How do you know that it actually happened? It could've all just been a dream. A very crazy dream.'_

Tsuna decided to ignore that part of his brain. There were more pressing matters at hand. Like, for example, the flames that were now bigger, and still growing. Tsuna coughed, his lungs feeling scratchy and it was taxing now to breath. Their oxygen supply was declining…

_Where're the fucking fire trucks?!_

Tsuna was definitely about to faint, because he was actually swearing, even if it was only in his mind. Oh, and he was seeing Kyoya now, glaring down at him…

Wait a minute, Kyoya?

"Kyo – Hibari-san?"

"Herbivore." The prefect's eyes seemed to narrow and something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone before Tsuna could be sure. Tsuna hoped that he didn't hear the almost slip of his name. That would take some explaining and maybe a few trips to the hospital. Besides, Tsuna was pretty much delirious.

Speaking of delirious…

"My - my mom. Please… h-help my mom," Tsuna heaved one of his mother's arms onto his small shoulders, trying to get her out of the burning ruins. It was a good thing that Hibari disliked doing things the long way, as the bloodthirsty teen had smashed right through one of the house's walls, leaving a huge gaping hole for them to get out of. The downside was that the extra oxygen was feeding the flames, which meant that they had to get out, fast.

Hibari merely stared at Tsuna, and the brunette began despairing, thinking that Hibari wouldn't help him. He was still weak from the smoke in his lungs, and he was barely able to hold his mother up as it was. How could he get her out of here without help?

Tsuna jumped when Hibari wordlessly broke eye-contact with the boy, slinging Nana's other arm around his own shoulders, broader and stronger than Tsuna's. Said boy was immediately flooded with relief, smiling at Hibari as they made their way out. So he was right, Hibari had a soft side too.

Once on the streets, Tsuna was surprised by the crowd in front of them, all whispering and pointing at them. Hibari, on the other hand, was irritated by all the herbivores crowding around in front of _him,_ but he held it in, deciding that he couldn't very well leave the boy beside him to support his mother all by himself and bite those nosy herbivores to death. Strangely, it was much easier to ignore them disobeying his orders with the boy standing next to him, as though he held some kind of soothing influence that was calming Hibari.

They heard the sirens of the fire trucks before the red trucks themselves came speeding around the corner, screeching to a halt in front of the remains of Tsuna's house. One of the firemen stepped out, shouting orders at the other men, organizing them into teams to distinguish the flames still engulfing the house. One of them took notice of the trio and stepped over.

"Excuse me, but are you three residences of this house?"

Tsuna fidgeted, adjusting Nana's arm on his shoulder. "Um, yes… me and my mom."

"I see," The fireman nodded before turning to Hibari. "And you are?"

The man regretted ever approaching the three when Hibari turned his icy glare on him. He recognized the teen, of course. There was probably no one in this town that didn't fear him after all.

"Herbivore."

"Y-yes sir?" The fireman said nervously, holding a hand up to salute the prefect. He could feel his hands and forehead beading with sweat already, and he gulped when Hibari didn't stop glaring at him.

"Why were you late?"

"W-well, you see, there was a minor malfunction with the alarms, so no one in the station was alerted until the neighbors of this boy here called us…"

"If you're late ever again, I'll bite you to death for your tardiness."

"YES SIR!" The man shouted, positively terrified by Hibari.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna was feeling extremely awkward and he kept fidgeting, twiddling his thumbs, shifting in his chair, running a nervous hand through his soft brown hair, etc.

The reason for his awkwardness? Easy, the demon prefect staring at him.

Tsuna didn't even know why Hibari had accompanied him to bring his mother to the hospital and stay with him. To be honest, it seemed like Hibari didn't know either. The raven-haired teen just kept staring at him, as though Tsuna was a puzzle that he couldn't solve.

"Uh… would you like to sit, Hibari-san?"

"…"

No answer, but Tsuna sort of expected that. It's not like Hibari was ever the talkative type. Some apparent dream/memory wouldn't change that fact.

"Um, Hibari-san, thank you for saving me and my mom…"

"…"

"I can repay you if you want. I know that you don't really eat much… uh, I could make you lunch?"

"…"

"Hamburger?"

"Bring it to the Disciplinary Committee Office at 12 O'clock sharp."

Huh, typical. So Hibari _does _like to eat hamburger. Maybe those dreams are useful after all.


	2. The Skylark: More Meat

A/N: Second chappie~

Summary: Tsuna just couldn't believe it. Those dreams, all those memories, being Vongola Decimo, the mafia, and his guardians… For the first time ever, Tsuna unleashed his flames, and the Sawada's residence exploded.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

The first half of school was relatively peaceful with the exception of that one time Nezu-sensei threw a chalk at Tsuna for zoning out in Math class. The classes suddenly became much easier (try boring), as Tsuna somehow still remembered the 'teachings' he'd received from Reborn in his dreams. Deciding to not seem like he cheated or something, Tsuna purposely answered the questions wrong, trying to make it seem as though he didn't even know what the materials were talking about.

And sadly, his classmates and teachers bought it without a question, even when he'd made the impossible mistake of not following the Order of Operation when he was freaking 14 (or almost, but his birthday is in 4 months, same thing). Was he really that dumb in the past – er, Dream World past/Real Life present?

God, this is confusing.

It also didn't help that Yamamoto was in his class. It was just so distracting to have someone near you, someone that you know like the back of your hand, only for them to treat you like a stranger, as Tsuna was to him at the moment.

'_Wait, at the _moment_?' _Tsuna thought, barely restraining himself from doing a head-desk. _'Do I actually want those Dream/Memories to be true?'_

Anyhow, Tsuna survived the first half of school, but lunchwas a different matter altogether. He now stood under the scrutiny of Kusakabe, Hibari's right-hand man (?). He recognized him as the Dream World future man who'd been with the Cloud Guardian then, following him dutifully into the Merone Base.

**(As a side note, Melone Base is the place Spanner hid Tsuna in after the whole Mosca thingy, not Byakuran's Merone Base. Check the wiki if you don't believe me)**

"Uh… excuse me, is Hibari-san inside?"

Kusakabe raised a brow at the boy shifting in front of him, a lunch box held in his twitchy hands. The pompadour haired boy had been standing guard, making sure that no one disturbed his leader as he took his afternoon nap.

"I apologize, but Kyo-san is currently resting. He will not see anyone," Kusakabe informed the boy, blocking his way by standing directly in front of the door.

Tsuna blinked up at him. "Resting…? Oh, I almost forgot!"

"Forgot? Forgot what?" Kusakabe questioned, confused by this boy who'd appeared out of nowhere to see the feared prefect.

"Ky – I mean, Hibari-san, takes naps at noon, right? I'm sorry for disturbing then, I'll come back later, or maybe you could give this to him for me?" Tsuna shoved the lunch box he'd been holding into Kusakabe's hands, further puzzling the Disciplinary Committee member.

"I-I suppose I could…" Kusakabe wanted to check what was inside before handing it to Hibari. Who knows, a crazy albino dragon master could have threatened to pierce out the heart of the boy in front of him with a white dragon hand, and he could have planted an exploding marshmallow inside this lunch box…

…

…

…

Right, it was official. Hibari was affecting him. Then again, if his fan-girls were desperate enough to sneak some so-called 'love-potion' into his _boxer's drawer,_ who knew.

Anyway, back to the topic and away from the crazy species called 'fan-girls', something that is _not_ to be confused with 'girls'. They're on a completely different league in stalking (Juvia level), bishounen-sensing (creepily pro level), and various other creepy things (hidden master level).

Kusakabe lifted the lid of the box, determined to prevent a marshmallow bomb from blowing up his leader.

"Hiee! Kusakabe-san, don't do that –" Tsuna shrieked and he reached out, but it was too late to stop Kusakabe.

The older teen, however, froze when a _heavenly_ scent wafted into his nose. In the lunch box, stacked in neat piles, was beautifully made hamburger meat_,_ cooked perfectly so as to not make the meat too tough, but just enough so that it brought a wonderful chewy sensation_._ Kusakabe immediately felt his mouth water from the smell, and he was tempted to sneak a bite when he froze yet again, but this time out of fear.

Hibari had slammed the door open and was now glaring at him with malice that even Reborn couldn't match. Oh no, he did _not_ just try to eat his meat. And yes, the prefect had smelled the godly piece of art from inside the room. Amazing, right?

"Kusakabe."

"K-kyo-san!"

"My hamburger."

Kusakabe hurriedly placed the lunch box in Hibari's outstretched hand, taking care to close the lid first, lest its smell hypnotized him into another food trance. The Disciplinary Committee's leader looked satisfied when the box was handed over to him, but he frowned when he glanced at Tsuna. "Herbivore."

"Oh, hello, Hibari-san… Nice weather?"

Hibari merely shot him a 'are-you-serious' look. He grabbed Tsuna's arm, dragging him into the office before slamming the door in Kusakabe's face.

Meanwhile, said teen blinked. _'What just happened there?'_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

'_Well, here we go again,'_ Tsuna mused mentally as he tried to get comfortable on the leather couch without disturbing or annoying Hibari. The prefect, on the other hand, was enjoying his lunch without a care as he worked on his paperwork, procuring a pair of chopsticks out of nowhere.

Tsuna shifted a bit, freezing when a creak sounded. Hibari stopped eating and looked over at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, uh… does it taste good, Hibari-san?"

Hibari didn't answer, opting to instead stuff a piece of meat into Tsuna's mouth before continuing to consume the rest. Tsuna chewed and swallowed. That probably meant yes, unless Hibari's taste buds were any different from how Tsuna remembered from his Dream/Memories.

The brunet watched as the prefect finished up both his home-made meal and his work, feeling his eyes growing heavier and heavier as he felt last night's fatigue catch up to him. He still had half an hour left of Lunch Break, so a little nap wouldn't hurt, would it?

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna was just having a wonderful dream of flying, enjoying the rare peace he felt, when something shock through him violently. He jolted awake and bolted into a sitting position.

'_Hyper Intuition.'_

"Hn, so you woke up after all."

Tsuna tilted his head back from where it lay on the couch's arm rest to look at Hibari upside-down. "Hibari-san! I'm sorry for falling asleep; I'll go to class right away."

Hibari waved a hand dismissively at him, sipping from a cup of green tea, "No need for that, school's over."

"Eh?"

And just on cue, the bell that signaled the end of school rang, proving what the prefect had just said.

"EH?!"

"Count yourself lucky," Hibari smirked, peering at Tsuna from over his cup. "I would've thrown you out of the window if you haven't woken up by then."

Oh. Well, it wasn't like Tsuna didn't expect that. He could still remember how Hibari had tried to toss Yamamoto and Gokudera out of the window when they wanted to make this into the Vongola's base. Tsuna shivered at the memory, recalling how his Hyper Intuition had practically kicked his mind, forcing him to wake up in time to see his friends beaten.

He was shook out of his thoughts when a slip of paper was waved in his face, bringing him back down to Earth.

"Huh?" Dang, Tsuna really needed to work on his vocabulary. He would rather not just say 'eh' or 'huh' all the time, thank you very much.

Hibari sighed through his nose, slapping the paper onto Tsuna's face. Ow.

"It's a pass," The prefect growled. Tsuna blinked up at him owlishly after he took the paper off his face, staring down at it with a blank look, especially Hibari's signature. It still looked the same, ten years from now, with his carefully neat handwriting. Chrome always did like it…

"You're letting me off?"

Hibari nodded, but the smirk on his face told Tsuna that there was a price.

"Let me guess," Tsuna sighed, sticking the paper into his pocket after folding it up. "More hamburger meat?"

"For the rest of the week."

Oh, that greedy little birdie (not that he was going to be saying that to Hibari's face). Tsuna suddenly missed Hibird at the mention of it. Maybe Hibari was less prone to be violent when it was around? Hibird was such a cute little fluff ball too…

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"Sawada!"

"HIEEE!" Tsuna jumped in his seat, head snapping up so fast that he almost twisted it. He could already feel the blush rising up his neck, his classmates around him laughing at his girly shriek. "Y-yes?"

"Pay attention, Sawada, I'm sick and tired of you drifting off every class!" His teacher scolded, gripped his science textbook tightly with irritation.

Tsuna bowed apologetically, "I'm very sorry!"

"Cleaning duty before lunch. If you skip, detention."

"Y-yes, I'm sorry," Tsuna said weakly, sitting back down. Oh man, what was he going to do? He still had to give Hibari his lunch! He was going to be killed!

Resisting the urge to head-desk, as he has been doing a lot these days, Tsuna pulled out his notebook, writing down unnecessary notes. But it didn't take long for him to begin doodling as his teacher's voice droned on. Tsuna sketched out badly drawn portraits of all the people he saw in his Dream/Memories: his guardians, Reborn, I-pin, Basil, dad, Varia... He found himself smiling and grimacing at the people he drew, having mixed feelings about some (read: Reborn. Tsuna wasn't sure if he wanted to smile fondly at the drawing or cower in fear). He almost forgot about his impending doom. Almost.

_"SAWADA!"_

"HIEEE!"

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Kusakabe stood awkwardly in the corner of the D.C office, watching Hibari pace around, his irritation almost manifesting into a dark aura. If he had to guess, he'd say that the skittish boy from yesterday was the cause for his leader's ugly mood, but he had no way of knowing for sure. Besides, what could the boy have done? Certainly not the usual things, such as beating Hibari in a fight or crowding. No, Kusakabe has seen the boy in the hallways a few times, and he was always the one being pushed away, the one that never socialized with others. It was almost sad, really. Kusakabe could tell that he was a kind person.

Then again, Hibari also disliked being forgotten or ignored. Who would've thought that the prefect enjoyed attention (even if it was usually the holy-crap-here-comes-the-demon kind of attention)? The entrances were just a bonus.

The teen was startled when Hibari stormed past him and wrenched the door open. Kusakabe blinked at his leader's back, remaining where he was. Students scattered left and right in front of the prefect's black aura, obviously terrified of the fate that would befall them if they so much as breathed wrong.

Perhaps it was best if he left him alone.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

A shiver ran down Tsuna back just as he reached up to wipe the top of the blackboard with a wet rag, the bucket of water at his feet. He stiffened for a few seconds before dismissing it as his imagination and swiped at the board, barely managing to reach the top.

Tsuna stepped back to examine his hard work, satisfied before he spotted another dirty streak at the top left corner. Frowning, he dipped the rag into the bucket again.

He was just about to clean the last spot when the door slid open, revealing Nezu-sensei, his most hated teacher. Tsuna snickered mentally, remembering how all his boastings were just that, boasting. He was a failure student, and he didn't have the right to insult Tsuna every chance he got.

"Still not done, Sawada?" Nezu smirked, moving past him to dump his textbooks onto the teacher's desk up at the front. Tsuna didn't reply, choosing to get back to his work instead, completely ignoring Nezu other than the quick glance he gave the older man (he wished he hadn't though. That double – no, _triple_ chin bothered him).

Nezu could feel his blood boiling under his skin at the show of disrespect. Scowling, he turned back to his desk. But as he turned, he purposely bumped into the rack holding the chalks, causing them to clatter against the board, creating another mess for Tsuna to clean up.

"Oh, my apologies, Sawada," Nezu chuckled, enjoying the frustrated look on Tsuna's face. "My mistake. Must be my age catching up to me."

At that, Nezu picked up one of the erasers and rubbed it across the chalk marks. He'd purposely chosen the eraser that Tsuna hasn't gotten to beat the dust out of, and the dirty eraser made the marks even messier than they previously were when Nezu carelessly mushed it against the black surface.

"Oh my, you haven't beaten this one yet?" Nezu feigned surprise, looking at the eraser in his hands, dropping it onto the ground. "I thought that you would've been faster, but apparently not. You better hurry up and clean this mess up before class starts."

Tsuna was ready to snarl at his teacher, manners be damned, when the door slid open yet again. Actually, slammed open would be more appropriate. But no matter, Tsuna had more important matters to tend to, like Hibari Kyoya. The raven haired teen looked pissed, and he glared at the two in the room icily, eyes travelling from the mess to them.

"What is the meaning of this mess, Herbivores?"

Nezu looked like he was ready to shit his pants, but he managed to stutter out a reply, pointing a shaking finger in Tsuna's direction. "I-It was Sawada, sir! He's always been an airhead, and he bumped into the chalks. I'll make him clean this up right away."

The teacher then rounded on Tsuna, snapping at him, "You heard me. I want this room to be spotless!"

At this point, Tsuna had a half distress, half angry look on his face. He wanted to sock Nezu in the face oh so_ badly_, but he knew that arguing was useless. Sighing, he took up the rag again, but a second glance at the prefect reminded him of something.

Plodding over to his desk, Tsuna reached inside to grab a lunch box, wrapped in purple. "As promised, Hibari-san."

_Purple for the Cloud Guardian_, Tsuna thought to himself as he handed it over to Hibari. Feeling sentimental, he'd chosen the shade of Chrome's hair.

_Just reminding myself… although Hibari might not like it. _

The prefect had received the lunch box without a word, staring at it with piercing concentration, as though he was trying to set it on fire simply by willing it to. Tsuna wondered if it was the color or the content inside that drew Hibari's attention.

"Herbivore."

"M-me?" Nezu straightened his posture, wringing his hands nervously behind his back. The glare the prefect shot him was both scary and unnerving.

"Clean this up."

Hibari ignored the flabbergasted expression on the teacher's face, and Tsuna felt a sense of Déjà-vu as he was dragged out of the classroom by the arm and into the D.C office. Kusakabe wisely chose to exit as soon as they entered.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

These sort of things happened a few more times over the week. Hibari would barge into Tsuna's classroom as soon as Lunch Break started and tow him all the way to the D.C office. The teachers were too frightened by the teen to object, although they were harsher to Tsuna in class. That, however, didn't stop the students from gossiping and rumors from spreading like wild fire.

"Is Hibari-san… you know, gay?"

"No way! He's probably into this older chick or something. Or maybe a foreigner – you know, I can totally imagine him with a French girl."

"Pfft, as if. I'll bet that that guy's going to be single until the day he dies. There's no way that a girl – oh, fine, _or_ guy. Happy now? - would be crazy enough to date a guy like that."

"Hm… Guess that you have a point."

Tsuna groaned in his head, squirming in his seat uncomfortably. His classmates started buzzing about as soon as the teacher stepped out for break time, and guess what the main topic was today? Hibari's sexuality, apparently.

"But you know what, he really has lady-killer looks. If only he would smile…" A female classmate of Tsuna's sighed dreamily, as though somehow managing to picture the impossible: Hibari smiling.

Or at least, it was impossible for them, who've only ever seen him as a terrifying prefect. But Tsuna was different with all those Dream/Memories he had in his disposal. He wished that he could print out pictures from his mind. Those scenes between Chrome and Hibari in the future would earn him quite a sum… And yes, Reborn has definitely rubbing off on him, even through some Dream/Memories. Bad influence that infant/man/cursed being was, Tsuna thought.

Perhaps it was strange that he was coping with those Dream/Memories so well, as much as he'd freaked out about it the first night. Hell, he'd even gone and blown his house up! But Tsuna just couldn't particularly care much about it anymore, now that he was actually living, walking around with the Dream/Memories floating around in his mind. He had to admit, that he no longer felt as lonely or depressed as he used to. Instead, he felt comforted by the occasional endearing scenes that flashed through his mind. Who would have thought that Tsuna craved for a family of his own, as deranged as it was? Yes, they created mountains more paperwork for him to do, but he also found himself enjoying the bickering between them. It was much better than the lonely silence that used to permeate his house before Reborn came, disturbed only by Nana's humming. Even that had sounded lonely..

Yes, it still hurt that Yamamoto was a constant presence in his school life along with Hibari, practically a stranger despite having been in the same class for over 2 years. But those memories hadn't been for nothing. Tsuna felt like he was older, that he's experienced more things than a boy his age should've, but he didn't mind. His world had suddenly become much sharper and bright than before, and he wasn't exactly complaining. He would watch, Tsuna decided. Time will tell.

The brunet smiled softly, laying his head on his crossed arms as he stared out the window. Soon, hopefully very soon, he would have his family back with him.


	3. The Skylark: Bad News

A/N: Hope you like this chapter! \(^.^)/

Summary: Tsuna just couldn't believe it. Those dreams, all those memories, being Vongola Decimo, the mafia, and his guardians… For the first time ever, Tsuna unleashed his flames, and the Sawada's residence exploded.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Reborn prided himself in having an iron control over his emotions amongst several other accomplishments, but even he couldn't help but twitch at the sight in front of him. At the moment, he was clenching the phone in his hand so hard that it was in danger of breaking, wishing that he could kill the person on the other side.

"Iemitsu," He said through clenched teeth. "Explain exactly _why_ your house is blown up into pieces, with your 'super-ultra-adorable' son and 'number-1-absolute-best-best-best' wife nowhere in sight when your '_totally_-_**reliable**_' spies reported that they were perfectly safe just a while ago?"

There was silence on the other side of the phone, and Reborn wisely pulled the electronic away from his ears before the man started his ranting.

_"M-my adorable son and wife are __**missing**__? Oh, the horror! The despair! The world is ending! I can't live without them! Oh, someone fetch my gun for me! I must go meet them on the other side – ack! Have some sympathy, Lal Mirch! Noooo, what am I to do?!"_

Reborn's eyes were shadowed by his fedora, but the black aura emanating from him was terrifying enough to scare off the people walking on the streets. _'Like hell I know.'_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

As soon as he entered through the door with a mumbled 'I'm home', Tsuna went straight to his room and flopped onto the bed. His mother popped her head in, cheerfully welcoming him back. Tsuna promised to be up soon for dinner, and Nana went back to cooking.

Tsuna groaned, rolling onto his back, unused to the hotel's beds. The mattress wasn't as soft as his old one was before it got burnt to ashes, and the bed sheets somehow made him feel cold instead of warm. He understood that they had to live _somewhere_, but he couldn't help but miss their home. Tsuna immediately felt guilty, as he _had_ been the one to blow their house up, so he really didn't have the right to complain about the hotel room his mom had found.

It was nice, and bigger than a normal hotel room should be. This was probably draining their money, another reason for Tsuna to feel guilty. He knew that Iemitsu earned more than enough money for the family already (being the second highest in command had their perks), but it wasn't like he could send over half of his earnings at once. Even Nana wasn't oblivious enough to not notice _that. _After all, what kind of construction worker earned that much money?

'_Well, no use worrying about that,' _Tsuna thought as he got up, mouth already watering from the delicious smell coming from the tiny kitchen. _'First food, then sleep. It's Wednesday tomorrow…'_

'_But it would be nice to punch him in the face when I see him. Disappeared into the stars my _ass_.'_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

'_Finally found you.'_

Reborn was observing Tsuna from a tree right outside the boy's classroom window, making sure to stay hidden within the thick foliage. It hadn't taken him a long time to locate the whereabouts of Sawada Tsunayoshi and Nana. He wasn't called the number one hitman for nothing.

To be honest, Reborn hadn't been expecting much from the brunet, what with him being the worst in the grade at both sports in academics. Not that Reborn couldn't beat a few things into the boy, of course. He always did have his own special way of teaching. Just look at Dino. He turned out fine, didn't he? Still alive and kicking.

But at the moment, Reborn was unsure. Yeah, you heard right, _the_ Reborn was unsure. The files proved to be quite accurate, as Reborn observed the boy's constant failures throughout the day. And yet, the Sun Arcobaleno couldn't shake off that weird feeling that had been clinging onto him the instant he'd laid his eyes on the boy. There was just something… off.

Tsuna truly was the least popular boy in the grade, and his classmates had a nickname for him: No-good Tsuna. They always laughed at him whenever he got a question wrong, or when his clumsiness acted up (for example, bumping into chairs and table, tripping over nothing, dropping his stuff, etc.). But Reborn saw differently.

Sometimes, Tsuna really was just being clumsy and knocking things over, but on a couple of occasions, it looked like it was done on purpose. Once, when he'd been called up to the board to answer a question, a boy had stuck his leg out, obviously intending to trip Tsuna up. The other idiots in Tsuna's class might've not noticed, but it didn't escape Reborn's notice that his eyes had flickered to the leg, and his body tensed up just a moment before he was about to be tripped. All those, Reborn knew, were signs of being prepared to avoid the obstacle. But instead of stepping over the leg, Tsuna had most certainly allowed himself to stumble over it.

That was the first hint.

The second one was during P.E class. The teacher had divided them into two teams and started them on a game of soccer (with Tsuna's team groaning and moaning about them being doomed with 'No-good Tsuna' on their side). The game had been going fine, and Tsuna had proved his inept skills in athletics as he struggled to keep up, lagging further and further behind his teammates as they dribbled the ball around the field.

It was admittedly quite pathetic to watch him pant, poor stamina and awful running posture showing (Reborn noted those as something to start working on with him straightaway).

Tsuna had virtually been useless for the first half of the game, but a stray kick had sent the ball flying towards him. His classmates didn't even attempt to warn him about the ball flying his way, all except for one boy with short black hair (Yamamoto Takeshi, Reborn later researched). It was only the cursed baby's trained eyes that caught the same tensing and awareness that Tsuna had displayed before, and his body had slightly leaned sideways. He would've been able to successfully dodge the ball by a margin if he continued the movement, but he stopped almost as soon as his body started going through the motion, causing the ball to smash right into his face.

Almost as if he didn't want the others to see that he was capable of dodging it.

And if that wasn't strange enough, Tsuna's lunch break was certainly sufficient. Reborn knew all about Hibari Kyoya, the demon prefect of Namimori, and he already planned to have the boy become part of Tsuna's family. His strength and intelligence would be valuable to the family, despite his general avoidance of people and violent tendencies.

So imagine his surprise when the bell rang, and instead of breaking off into groups to eat with friends (though the file and Reborn's own observations showed that Tsuna had none), the boy went straight to the Disciplinary Committee's office, the lair of the demonic Hibari Kyoya. His short exchange with the boy guarding the room proved that this wasn't the first time Tsuna had been there, and the miracle of not being beaten up by Hibari meant that he was at least tolerated by the raven-haired teen.

That had confirmed Reborn's suspicions about something being off with the boy. Something… just something. He couldn't do anything about it right now, but he would get to the bottom of it.

'_But really,'_ Reborn thought, his mind starting to wander. _'Tsuna's head looks like the perfect seat… No, concentrate!'_

'_Then again, so does Yamamoto's shoulder…'_

Reborn wondered if there was something wrong with him today.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna shivered yet again, with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He felt like he was being watched… and one look at the date proved him right.

'_Damn it! Reborn's supposed to arrive today!' _He thought, staring at his desk so hard that it was almost like he was trying to bore a hole into the wood. It was just _so _tempting to head-desk… the teacher wouldn't mind, right? It would be just like Reborn to be discreetly observing him before actually meeting him in person. That was just how the cursed baby rolled, smooth, careful, and precise. And deadly. Definitely that (what else would you call those terrifying bullets and death threats?).

Sighing and deciding that it really wasn't worth destroying his precious brain cells by head-desking and most likely drawing attention to himself, Tsuna instead stared out the window. Today's weather was great, he noted, the sun shining down, the sky a clear blue color, and just a few clouds in sight. Clouds… clouds?

Oh, that's right! Tsuna straightened a smile back on his face. Maybe he could buy time by hanging around Hibari! Reborn wouldn't be expecting that, would he?

…

Actually, knowing the sadistic 'baby', he could probably find him with his creepy hitman senses or something. He would never understand those crazy people from his Dream/Memories. Was it possible for the mafia to traumatize them so much that they developed some awful creepy habits (Mukuro's laugh pretty much fit that description)? Well, he was certainly traumatized, what with all those things that he'd already witnessed that were not meant for 14 years old teens…

Yeah, he was scarred for life. Bullets, poison cooking, Reborn, dynamites, swords, _Reborn, _tridents, the Varia, _Xanxus, _Reborn, VOI's, Ushishi's, _Kufufu's_, **Reborn, **Ten Year Bazooka, _**Byakuran **_**–**

The teacher teaching at the time, Ms. Lee, was obviously startled when Tsuna let out a wail of despair and slammed his head onto his desk, causing her to snap her chalk in half.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

It was a very relaxing day for Hibari Kyoya. There were hardly any herbivores messing around today except for those two gangs he'd found and, of course, bit to death. It wasn't anything serious, just a couple bruises and chipped teeth. He was feeling generous, so only a few of them got sent to the hospital. For the majority of the day, He napped on the roof, watching the clouds float by.

The only disturbance that shook him out of his drowsy state was the bell sounding, signaling the end of school. Yawning and stretching, Hibari stood up, ready to go check one last time to ensure that there were no stragglers before going off to patrol around the town. He was just reaching for the doorknob when the door slammed open, sending a certain small brunet tumbling onto the rooftop. Hibari didn't even blink and stepped aside, resulting in Tsuna taking a tumble. Painfully.

Tsuna lay sprawled on the ground, rubbing his forehead where it'd contacted the concrete. "O-ow, that hurt… Hi, Hibari-san."

"Herbivore," Hibari acknowledged. "What are you doing here?"

Tsuna sat up, shifting around. "Um, I was just wondering if I could go patrolling the town with you… Pretty please? I promise that I won't be a bother, and I'll make sure to get out of the way whenever you're biting someone to death! I won't even say a single word!"

Hibari sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't even bother listening to the boy's ranting. Normally, if someone had been ranting in front of him, he would've beaten them to death before they could even get a full sentence out. Normally, that was. For some reason, he only felt slight irritation towards the ranting brunet, and the thought of biting him to death didn't give Hibari the usual sense of euphoria. Strange. "Stop. You can come."

"I'll carry all the stuff that you have – wait, I can come?"

"I don't like to repeat myself, Herbivore."

"R-really?" Tsuna's eyes were widening by the second, and his body shook. Hibari looked at him guardedly, wondering what was wrong with him now. Was he going to explode?

"YES! I LIVE!"

Apparently, yes. Hibari wondered if it was a good idea to let the boy come along as he stood there, watching Tsuna dance and cry tears of joy.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"You're lagging, Herbivore."

"S-sorry," Tsuna looked away from the sweets on display, making his legs move faster to catch up to Hibari. They had been walking around the town for an hour, going down every street they came across. So far, Hibari had gone right ahead and 'disciplined' four groups, leaving them all in a black and blue heap on the ground. The sight of blood didn't really sit well with Tsuna and he could feel his stomach twisting, but he didn't say anything and held it in. Such violence was normal around Hibari Kyoya, after all.

Hibari was walking pretty fast, and Tsuna had to pay attention to his speed to not fall behind, as hibari had longer legs than him, enabling the prefect to take long stride. Without looking back, Hibari absently commented, "We're almost done."

"O-oh," Tsuna said. The rest of the way around the block was spent in a long but comfortable silence until they came across a building.

Tsuna stopped in his tracks, warily looking at the rundown building before him.

'_Kokuyo Land,'_ He thought, glancing at the broken sign at the entrance, the eroded letters printed onto it almost illegible. This place brought back bad memories from a long time ago (in his Dream/Memories, of course), and he wasn't going to be forgetting them anytime soon.

"What are you doing?"

"Hiee!" Tsuna very nearly jumped a foot into the air when Hibari appeared behind him, a look of annoyance on his face.

"I already said that I don't like repeating myself."

Tsuna thought that Hibari was already repeating himself just by saying that, but he valued his life and held his tongue. "Oh, nothing much, just…"

And then _it_ came. That dark feeling that always sent a shiver crawling up his back, the feeling that Tsuna dislikes very, _very_ much. It never meant anything good, unless your definition of good was the threat of being traumatized, subjected to gruesome illusions, stabbed, and possessed to take over the world.

This feeling meant only one thing: Mukuro.

"Actually…" Tsuna turned to look at Hibari, who was still waiting impatiently for him to explain. "This place kind of gives me a bad feeling… would you mind if I checked it out? Y-you don't have to come with me or anything, I'll go alone, and I swear that I won't mess around or do anything against the rules!"

"You talk too much," Hibari growled, already having enough of Tsuna's rambling. He really needed to beat that habit out of the boy. Maybe when he got really stressed from paperwork and needed a good punching bag to relieve stress… The idea was pretty appealing to the prefect, and he almost forgot to restrain to blood-thirsty grin itching to surface.

"So is that a yes?" Tsuna questioned. Hibari didn't answer, but he brushed right past Tsuna and started up the dirty stairs leading to the abandoned park. He took a few steps before looking over his shoulders, staring pointedly at Tsuna. "Are you coming or not, Herbivore?"

Tsuna almost tripped himself hurrying up the stairs, but he managed to ask, "You're coming, Hibari-san?"

"Like you said, this place gives off an unpleasant feeling. Namimori doesn't need anything like that."

"A-ah, I see – gah!"

"Keep stumbling and I'll bite you to death."

"Hiee!"

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Kokuyo Land was just as dilapidated as it had appeared in Tsuna's Dream/Memories. The structures were rusted and broken, and the hole where Yamamoto had fought Ken was exactly the same. Tsuna peeked into the hole, wincing when he remembered the horror of seeing Ken sink his fangs into Yamamoto's arms. The image was forever ingrained into his mind, just like all the other bloody events that had occurred.

Tsuna was reminded of the Devil's Spawn when they passed by the stone tables where the showdown between Bianchi and M.M had taken place. The lazy baby had been sleeping through the whole thing, leaving them to panic, Tsuna thought. He mourned the thought that he didn't get the chance to taste Yamamoto's delicious sushi. They were practically made in heaven and brought down by the angels, but _nooo,_ M.M just had to blow them up! Well, he was grateful that she blew up Bianchi's terrifying juice, but it was still a disappointment.

Tsuna could already feel his mouth watering at the thought of the sushi, but his stomach cramped from the image of wriggling bugs in Bianchi's poison cooking. Truly frightening, and it didn't help that Chrome was later taken in by Bianchi as an apprentice. Even Hibari had made any excuse available to escape eating Chrome's homemade lunch boxes when she offered them.

It wasn't long before Tsuna stood in front of the rundown building Mukuro resided in – his intuition spiked as soon as he was within ten meters – with a cold feeling of dread, Hibari glowering at the broken doors ahead of him. Maybe his OCD-ness was acting up?

"Let's go," Hibari ordered, striding right into the building. Tsuna hesitated for a moment at the entrance, wrestling with the apprehension and excitement that welled up before following, shooting a quick glance at the doors when he past them, wondering briefly if they would pop back good as new and close automatically like the ones in Horror movies always do. He immediately shook his head to dispel the silly thought and hurried after Hibari.

He caught up to him just as Hibari had finished examining the broken staircases. The teen glared at the ruins of the last one and harshly kicked a chunk of cement aside, narrowly missing Tsuna's face. Tsuna 'eep'ed, moving to the side when Hibari stalked past him, heading for the only intact staircase. Hibari stared at it for a few seconds, a contemplating expression on his face.

Tsuna edged closer, wondering why Hibari didn't just head up the stairs in the first place. "Uh, Hibari-san –"

Tsuna didn't even get to finish his question before being grabbed by the arm and carelessly thrown up the stairs. He shrieked hysterically (sounding impressively like a girl) just before banging his chin against a step. He immediately clutched at his definitely bruised arm and sore chin, attempting to glare (and failing) at Hibari. Ow. Like seriously, the hell, man? "W-what was that for!"

"Checking for traps," Hibari replied easily and, obviously satisfied that there were no traps, started up the stairs, not even caring that he was leaving Tsuna behind. Said boy was gaping at the prefect's retreating back, thinking something along the lines of: if Reborn's a devil's-spawn then you're his grandkid… or maybe Fon's? Tsuna never did find out how those two were related.

Deciding to save whatever surviving scraps of his sanity left, Tsuna picked himself up and followed, rubbing his chin that was still stinging with pain. The bruise that was sure to be there would look decidedly odd, Tsuna mourned, almost tripping over another step.

Tsuna didn't realize that Hibari had stopped short as soon as he'd reached the second floor until he crashed right into the teen, intuition suddenly blaring out loudly.

"Hibari-san?"

"Quiet, Herbivore," Hibari growled, steel gray eyes narrowed at the mist that swirled around the room. They were bad news, Tsuna's instinct told him, and it only got worse when the mist started gathering together, forming a hazy outline. The half-formed figure spoke, a familiar pineapple shaped head forming.

"Oya, oya, what do we have here?"


	4. The Skylark: Pissed with Some Pineapple

"_Quiet, Herbivore," Hibari growled, steel gray eyes narrowed at the mist that swirled around the room. They were bad news, Tsuna's instinct told him, and it only got worse when the mist started gathering together, forming a hazy outline. The half-formed figure spoke, a familiar pineapple shaped head forming. _

"_Oya, oya, what do we have here?"_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"Hiee! M-mukuro!"

"Oh?" The figure was becoming more and more visible by the second, and a red eye stood out within the dark room. It was lit in amusement, but not the type Tsuna had grown accustomed to seeing during their later years, living with the family in the Vongola Mansion. It wasn't the sincere enjoyment Mukuro's eyes betrayed while they had their daily bantering, but the joy of a cruel sadist imagining what he would do to crush and bring pain and despair to his victims. This Mukuro wanted to dye this world black. "You know of me?"

Hibari stayed silent, but he'd glanced briefly at Tsuna, gray eyes narrowed in suspicion. He knew this man/thing?

"Who is he, Herbivore."

An order, not a question, Tsuna noted. Shuffling back slowly, Tsuna's eyes darted around the room, wearily eyeing the mist rolling in the room. He would be ready for action as soon as an illusion appeared. "Rokudo Mukuro. Italian. Broke out of Vindicare Prison with eight accomplices."

He couldn't say too much, but that was enough to satisfy Hibari. Probably.

"Someone sure did their homework," The now fully formed Mukuro chuckled, standing leisurely with his hands in his pockets. "But I'd rather be the one who stalks people, not the other way around."

Tsuna immediately felt a shiver run down his spine at the mention of the word 'stalk'. Oh, no, that word was _not _a word that he liked. In fact, he hated it, so much that he would plead and beg for Mukuro to drag it down to hell and cook it in Hell's Fire with marshmallows!

(According to Byakuran, marshmallows cooked in Hell were delicious. He said that Mukuro made him some for his birthday. Tsuna still hasn't decided whether he should believe the albino or not).

That abominable word was something that brought back forcefully buried memories of shrieking fan-girls, including the occasional fan-boys, and tortuous days of hiding in closets with his guardians (if he was going down, than he was going to drag them down with him. Not his fault that they were good-looking too).

"I didn't sta – follow you!" Tsuna glared at Mukuro, wrestling with the horrid thoughts in his mind to bury them again. The illusionist merely laughed again, obviously not believing him. Oh, that's it.

"One more thing, Hibari-san," Tsuna said sweetly. Not that his cute smile hid the ugly black aura behind him. "He uses four _extra-large _bottles of gel each week to make his hair stand up like that."

Now _that_ made Mukuro blush with embarrassment. No one, not even Ken and Chikusa, was supposed to know that! He was extremely careful (sorry, no Ryohei yet) whenever he applied the gel, waiting until his gang was sound asleep to put it on. That, or use his strongest illusion. It wasn't exactly easy to sleep in run-down places.

As for Hibari, his facial expression didn't change one bit, and he was still gripping his tonfas tightly. He didn't seem affected by the piece of information, but Tsuna had had memories of years spent with Hibari, and he noticed the small details that gave away Hibari's thoughts. And with the slight twitching of his left eyebrow and the reddening of his ears, Tsuna knew that the prefect was laughing manically on the inside. And no, he wasn't exaggerating.

"… Four?" Hibari's voice was thin, strained with the effort of not bursting into laughing. He had a reputation as the big bad prefect to uphold after all.

"Yup, four. Every week," Tsuna grinned, popping the 'p'. He didn't even care that he was acting out of character. Revenge was sweet, _very_ sweet indeed.

Unfortunately, while the two of them were busy laughing (secretly on Hibari's account), Mukuro had lost both his patience and his temper. It was only because of Tsuna's Hyper Intuition giving him a hard mental kick that he noticed the illusion flying their way.

"Duck, Hibari-san!" Tsuna yelled before he hit the floor himself, feeling the tips of his fluffy mane of hair closely avoid being chopped off. Phew.

He'd seen Hibari jumping to the side just now to avoid the illusion. Typical of the teen, Tsuna supposed. He wasn't going to accept being ordered around, especially if he rarely did so even in the future.

Tsuna looked up at the sound of metal clashing, squeaking when another stray illusion almost decapitated him. Mukuro laughed out loud, enjoying the girlish sound that had escaped from Tsuna. His attention slipped from the battle, giving Hibari a small opening.

"Whoops, that was close," Mukuro commented casually, catching one of Hibari's tonfas with the spikes of his trident. Eyes narrowing, Hibari pivoted with one foot and swung his other weapon, throwing his weight into the blow. Mukuro felt his left wrist go a little numb from the force Hibari had put behind the hit.

"What an irritating little birdy," Mukuro said through grit teeth, eye twitching. "Looks like I'll have to up this a bit."

In their deadlock, Hibari was close enough to see the spinning of the illusionist's red pupil, and he quickly jumped back. His instincts were telling – no, _screaming, _that the change in the numeral meant that shit was going down, and when he said shit, he meant big shit.

Mukuro charged at Hibari, trident brandished, and the Japanese teen grunted from his sudden boost in speed and strength. Hibari blinked. Was his right eye flaming? He had no more time to ponder over that, for Mukuro showered him with powered blows, and Hibari had to concentrate to avoid being diced to pieces. They kept speeding up the pace of the fight until their weapons were a blur, and only highly experienced people could see their movements. One of those 'highly experienced' people was Tsuna.

'_Gah, he's using the Fourth Path already!'_ Tsuna shrieked mentally. As far as he could tell (and the memories he had of their current strength), the two were evenly matched. He should probably help Hibari, but beating up his family – which Mukuro had managed to become over the years – didn't sit well with him.

'_To help or not to help, that is the question,'_ Tsuna suddenly thought. _'Wait, this isn't the time to think about Shakespeare! I've got to help!'_

But just as Tsuna stood up, Mukuro had managed to hook the shaft of his trident and spun one of Hibari's tonfas across the room. Tsuna wondered if God really hated him that much when he was almost hit again. Dang, that would've given him a concussion.

"One down," Mukuro grinned, bringing his trident down for another swipe. Hibari ducked and rushed forward under Mukuro's guard. Tsuna had to give Mukuro some credit for his fast reaction, and the strike just barely brushed against his chin.

Hibari growled in irritation, but Mukuro merely laughed, continuing the fight. But although the two were equally capable, Hibari was at a disadvantage with his single tonfa, and it didn't take long for Mukuro to take that out of the equation as well.

"See you in Hell."

Hibari glared in contempt and shifted to the side, but Tsuna could see that the trident would still scratch him. Even one little scratch meant that Mukuro could possess you, so a single injury would turn the table.

Funnily, it wasn't Tsuna who saved Hibari from the final strike, but the door suddenly bursting open.

"Who the hell dares to disturb us, byon?" Tsuna recognized him as Ken, one of Mukuro's friends (the illusionist denied having such things, but he knew that he was lying. Tsuna really loved his Hyper Intuition sometimes). It helped that Ken didn't really change much in the future.

A sigh came from the teen that stood beside Ken. "Don't get so worked up all the time, Ken. Now we have to fix that door again."

'_Chikusa_.' Tsuna remembered, tuning out Ken's shouting. He didn't change much in the future either, keeping his trademark beanie and barcode. What was his last name again? Kaki-pi? No, wait, that's his nickname.

Ken's shout of outrage when he spotted Mukuro and Hibari still fighting brought Tsuna back down to Earth.

'_Concentrate! I've got to concentrate!' _Tsuna scolded himself, slapping his hands over his cheeks.

"Ah! What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" Ken barked, pointing an accusing finger at the prefect. Hibari glared at the blonde, annoyed with his interruption. Mukuro, on the hand, laughed at his follower's behavior, swinging his trident to put some space between him and Hibari.

"Just a few unexpected meddlers," Mukuro told him. "This boy's mine," He said, jabbing a thumb at Hibari. "But you can do whatever you want with the other one.

Hibari looked like he very much wanted to strangle the pineapple-haired teen, but Mukuro, being himself, ignored that.

"Alright! I was getting bored in this hellhole!" Ken cheered, crouching into an offensive position. "You stay back, Kaki-pi, he's mine."

Chikusa sighed as he stood to the side, obviously bored. "What else would I do? It'll be over in a second if the two of us attacked together."

Tsuna couldn't help but feel a little indignant – just a little, mind you. He didn't survive all those bat-shit crazy days being Reborn's student for nothing… although, he _did _have the special bullets to kick start his training.

…

Oh, fuck. He couldn't use his flames!

Unfortunately, Ken wasn't going to let Tsuna sit down and try to bring out his flames. Instead, he slipped one set of fangs into his mouth. Tsuna had almost forgotten how disturbing his transformation was, or how painful it looked. Hair sprouted from his arms, and his clothes were at the point of bursting from the muscle that had suddenly developed. Did the Estraneo Scientists put steroids in the cartridges?

Ken stood like a gorilla, hands clenched in fists. "Kong Channel," He growled in a voice deeper than before. Maybe Tsuna should try doing that too… (Anything to have his masculinity recognized!)

'_No way! Why that channel of all thing? He can smash rocks with his bare hands!' _Tsuna shrieked mentally.

"Oi, oi, don't get distracted now."

"Hieee!"

Throwing himself to the side, Tsuna escaped being smashed against the wall. Quickly remembering Reborn's lesson about always staying on your feet, he rolled on his back and leapt back up, making sure to keep Ken in his line of sight. If he wasn't careful, he would end up with his skull cracked.

Ken looked at him curiously, withdrawing his fist. "Huh, you're not half bad. Maybe I don't have to go easy on you."

'_Easy?!' _Tsuna thought, eyes darting to the hole in the wall. If he hadn't dodged in time… shudder.

"Let's see if you can dodge this!"

"W-wait! Time-out, time-out!" Tsuna hopped from side to side, narrowly missing his own death. It was only his reflexives, honed by Reborn's daily assassination attempts, that he was alive. _'Never thought that I would ever be thankful for his Spartan training.'_

On the other hand, Ken was getting annoyed. "Tch, stop jumping around! You're like a little fly!"

Tsuna opened his mouth to retort back at him (he didn't like being called a fly very much), but a rush of wind interrupted him. He hissed when he felt blood starting to seep through the cut on his bicep. He was wearing his only clean uniform!

"Cheetah Channel!"

'_Dang, super speed!'_ His Hyper Intuition was working overtime sensing the path of Ken's rapid charging, and Tsuna had to reach his senses out to try and find an opening. So far, no luck with that. He clutched at his arm to stem the bleeding. Lesson number 4: never lose too much blood. Others like mad scientists (*cough*Verde*cough*) could use it to do some kind of freakish experiment. He learned from last time (a certain someonestole some blood from him and created a clone with it. In the end, it couldn't withstand the sheer force of the X-burner and self-destructed, but it was a close call).

But there was also one of the most important lessons: calm down and think. Tsuna forced himself to stop panicking and observe the situation properly. So far, Ken had the advantage with his super speed, and Tsuna was in trouble without his Dying Will pills. While he wasn't entirely dependent on them, his combat abilities without them were severely cut down. Now, he was probably around the same as Ken without his speed, not counting the extra claws and fangs and Tsuna's current body.

So the first thing he had to do was to find a way around Ken's speed. Stepping to the side, Tsuna tried to focus on the blur that hurdled past where he'd been standing just a second ago. There _was_ one way, but it would hurt. A lot.

Oh well, Tsuna thought. No pain, no gain, right? Years living with his guardians had _definitely_ taught him that. And besides, Yamamoto had sacrificed one arm in order to defeat Ken, so Tsuna would just have to suck it up.

Ken rushed in for another try, and this time, Tsuna didn't step out of the way. He dropped to the ground, and as soon as his Hyper Intuition started ringing again, he swung a leg to trip Ken. Ken's reaction time was impressive and he jumped right over it. "Keh, like that would work - gah!"

Busy avoiding Tsuna's leg, Ken hadn't noticed him bring the other one up to smash into his stomach the moment he jumped.

So far, so good. Ken had immediately leapt back up, yelling at him for the kick. Tsuna wasn't really surprised since he didn't expect for the kick to actually knock the blond out. Sadly, his current body lacked the muscles he had in the Dream/Memories, and he hadn't been able to put as much strength into the blow as he would've liked. (His abs!)

"That's it; I'm going to get serious now!" Ken growled. He withdrew another set of cartridges from his Kokuyo uniform's jacket and swapped it with the Cheetah fangs. He went through another painful looking transformation, dirty blond hair turning into orange, hair sprouting on his hands, nails lengthening and sharpening into claws. Tsuna wondered how that worked. Maybe the fangs made his arm hair grow? Did they dye his hair orange?

"Lion Channel!"

'_In any case, his super speed's gone.'_

Now that he could actually see his opponent properly, Tsuna went on the offensive. He went through one of his favorite series of moves: a punch to the face, kick to the stomach, elbow, knee. By attacking different places, the enemy would have a harder time blocking. Thankfully, Tsuna was still pretty fast despite his lack of muscle, and Ken wasn't able to block the knee. Or at least, he would've been hit if Chikusa hadn't stepped in.

Tsuna hurriedly jumped back, grateful to have saved his jacket (and himself) from the fate of becoming a pin cushion. In his opinion, Fran was better suited to be one, considering his apparent inability to feel any pain and Bel's habit of stabbing him.

Ken recovered quickly, glaring at Chikusa as though the teen hadn't just saved him from being knocked out. "What do you think you're going? I told you to step back, didn't I?"

"First of all, I don't take orders from you," Chikusa sighed, bouncing his yoyo in his hands. "Secondly, I just saved you from getting your ass kicked, so just shut up and be grateful already."

Ken didn't look ready to 'shut up and be grateful' anytime soon, but he stopped glaring at Chikusa and instead transferred it over to Tsuna. He muttered under his breath, "Annoying… Whatever, I want to get back to my choco puffs."

Unfortunately for Tsuna, Chikusa said nothing, which meant that he agreed with Ken.

'_Chikusa's a mid-range fighter and I don't have a gun or anything, so I have to get in close… the problem is Ken. He'd definitely stop me, and if I target him, Chikusa will attack me with his needles… time for _that_ plan then,' _Tsuna grimaced as he thought.

Putting on a burst of speed, he jumped in front of Ken for a kick to his head. As he had predicted, Chikusa tossed his yoyos at Tsuna, needles shooting out of them. Tsuna twisted like a snake, kicking Ken to the side as he whipped his jacket off to catch the needles.

'_My jacket!' _Tsuna mourned, throwing the now tattered clothing to the side. '_How did Reborn manage to keep his jacket whole?'_

Pausing his grieving (he'd get back to that later), Tsuna dodged the yoyo flying his way along with all the needles. He seized the moment when Chikusa retracted his yoyo and rushed past him, heading for the other end of the room. But at that moment, Ken chose to jump in his way.

"Come back here, you coward! Too scared to fight?!"

Tsuna didn't answer and instead ducked down, feinting a punch to Ken's stomach. The blond raised his arms to block it, but Tsuna had already fallen back and continued running. Like he said before, delicate situation!

As he ran, Tsuna kept an eye on Hibari and Mukuro's fight. He could hear Ken and Chikusa chasing like he'd planned for them to, but he concentrated on the battle before him. He had to be careful with the timing, or his plan would fail. Hit, block, 'pineapple', twitch, dodge, kick, clash, 'watch-dog', explode… there!

'_Here goes nothing!' _

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"Kufufu, you're much more entertaining than I thought, little birdy," Mukuro laughed, defending himself from the rapid stream of attacks. Hibari growled in frustration when he'd failed to do anything more than cut off a few strands of Mukuro's hair. He should at least stand still and let him cut that damned pineapple off!

"Stupid pineapple," The smaller male muttered, and spun his tonfas, activating the hidden spikes. Maybe it would be good enough to cut the illusionist bald…

Fortunately for Mukuro, and unfortunately for Hibari, Mukuro's trident had a greater reach than his tonfas, and he was able to protect his fabulous hairstyle from the bloodthirsty prefect. Hibari's anger level rose even further and he found himself forcing his body to go even faster than it usually should be able to. The same seemed to apply to Mukuro as the two continued to evenly match each other, neither giving ground (nor hair).

It was strange for him to be so angry though, Hibari thought in the back of his mind. Usually, he would be annoyed at anything that was relatively noisy and weak, and while Mukuro most definitely fit the definition of noisy (to him anyways), he wasn't _that _weak. Other than the Italian defiling Namimori with his foul presence, there really wasn't any reason for Hibari to hate him so much. It felt like second nature to him, his blood boiling to bite the escapee to death.

"I'll erase your existence from Namimori, bastardly pineapple."

"My, my, what a good little watch-dog," Mukuro smirked, always just half a step ahead of Hibari. "Are you _that_ in love with your lovely little town?"

A vein twitching on his forehead, Hibari outright snarled at the man, bursting right through Mukuro's illusionary explosive. The resulting explosion propelled Hibari forward, and he grinned darkly, tonfas poised to strike. However…

"Jump, Hibari-san!"

His body automatically moved, mind not registering to why he was listening to the herbivore, or why Hibari suddenly felt like he knew what Tsuna's next move was going to be.

Mukuro lowered his trident, surprised by the sudden call and Hibari's action. He didn't expect for the teen to actually obey another's wishes. From what he had heard from the talk around town (mostly from beaten up gang members) and seen, Hibari was a stubborn male who bowed to no one. Mukuro ignored that small part of his brain that supplied that he was a stubborn, _foolish, weak, annoying, irritating, soft, bird-loving birdy. _Complete with maniacal evil laughter.

Tsuna appeared out of nowhere, sliding underneath Hibari. In no time at all, he was right in Mukuro's face, and the Italian teen wondered if he was imagining the quick flash of orange in the burnet's eyes. Working fast, Tsuna kicked the trident out of the surprised illusionist's hands and grabbed it. Turning swiftly, he hit Chikusa and Ken solidly in the head with the butt of the trident, sending them both flying across the room where they crumpled, unconscious.

"How rude." Tsuna swung around to face Mukuro, pointing his own trident at him. He knew how to use just about any weapon, all the necessary skills beaten into him by a certain sadist. (The world was probably ending. He'd thanked Reborn for his Spartan Training _twice_).

"Interrupting my fight in such a fashion… even knocking out my subordinates," Mukuro continued, nodding at Chikusa and Ken's motionless bodies. "Looks like you're not just another foolish boy trying his luck."

Tsuna wasn't startled when the trident he held faded into mist, materializing in Mukuro's hands. It was an illusion to begin with anyways, and Mukuro could always just make another one. "Sorry. Someone told me to try and be flashier."

That was true. Tsuna could still recall the day when Mukuro strolled into one of his training sessions.

'_You should try something more dramatic, Tsunayoshi,' He had sighed, shaking his head at the smoldering ruins of a dummy that Tsuna had been practicing on. 'All you do is punch and kick all the time. Quite boring, really.'_

'_I'm always busy fighting,' Tsuna pointed out, raising an eyebrow at his Mist Guardian. 'There's no time for being flashy.'_

_Mukuro shrugged, 'Fighting, playing, they're all the same. You might as well make the most of the play time you get.'_

_Fighting? Fun? 'I don't think so…'_

'_Fine, fine.' Mukuro raised his hands in surrender. 'You can be really stubborn sometimes, you know? How about this then? I'll give some useful tips, and you can decide whether you want to use them or not.'_

_In the next battle against a rival famiglia, the other guardians gaped when Tsuna defeated half of the enemy with a giant X-Stream, finished with a pretty orange explosion. _

'_So, fun?' Mukuro smirked, leaning on his trident. _

_Tsuna had to admit that the illusionist was right._

"Oya? You're not a very polite boy either, ignoring people when they're talking."

"Sorry, what was that?" Tsuna shook his head, mind still stuck in a flashback of Mukuro demonstrating one of his favorite 'tricks' that involved a few giant man-eating plants and screaming banshees that chased you to the ends of earth… okay, cut.

Mukuro was obviously annoyed, but he continued speaking, "Very well, I shall repeat myself. As I said before, you and little birdy here are very interesting. I don't think that I'll be letting you go anytime soon…" The numeral in his red pupil spun once again, this time stopping at one. Mukuro's smile twisted into something that was sinister and creepy put together. "Now, shall we play?"

He slammed his trident against the floor, and it immediately fell apart, leaving only the piece of ground that Mukuro was standing on afloat. His favorite illusion. Undeterred, Hibari began leaping from boulder to boulder, determined to reach Mukuro. Tsuna did the same, although he was trying to stay alive, rather than take vengeance. He watched in horror when Hibari bounded onto Mukuro's platform.

"Wait, Hibari-san, don't! You're trapped in his illusions now! He can -" Tsuna didn't get to finish his sentence before the tip of a trident was pressed against his neck. The illusion of Mukuro dispelled, and Hibari's tonfa hit thin air.

"Kufufu, you seem to know quite a bit about illusions," Mukuro smirked, pressing harder. Tsuna gagged, his airway blocked. "Too bad though, that's not enough for you to see through my illusions."

'_Damn it! My Hyper Intuition isn't strong enough in this form!' _Tsuna panicked, struggling to breathe with a weapon shoved against his throat. '_I was too rash, barging in here without Dying Will pills, or even Dying Will bullets. I should have waited until I regained my strength!'_

Tsuna's sight was getting fuzzier by the second. It was like when Byakuran had literally squeezed the life out of him, only it'd hurt a lot more than Mukuro's trident. That didn't mean that this didn't hurt though. '_Damn!'_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Hibari could definitely say that he was now pissed. Not only had he _obeyed_ another, but he'd lost his chance to maybe land a blow on Mukuro! Actually, the last bit wasn't so bad since he'd gotten to witness the herbivore's sudden strength. The meek little boy had actually managed to both disarm the illusionist _and _defeat the two lackeys. His display had made Hibari feel excited, and he couldn't wait to bite him to death. Just imagining a worthy opponent was enough for Hibari to be determined to make sure that he got to fight him.

That was probably why he was so pissed too. That pineapple head had managed to _trick _him with that cowardly little trick of his, and if that wasn't enough, he'd gotten to _his _prey! There was no way that he was letting that herbivore (though Hibari wondered if he really was an herbivore) die before fighting him. And, like Mukuro, he ignored that tiny part of him that argued differently. There was no way that he cared for him, because Hibari just didn't do something like that. At least, he didn't care for some random person he'd only really known for less than a week.

The herbivore was losing air fast, and Hibari knew that he was going to pass out soon, if not die from lack of air. He immediately attempted to jump back to help him, but the illusionist was messing with him again, randomly raising platforms and objects that got in his way. Hibari grit his teeth, brutally smashing a huge rock to pieces. He wasn't going to make it!

Just when the herbivore's eyes were starting to lose focus and Hibari was about to yell, shout, throw his tonfas, something _– anything - _a flash of black rushed right past him. Something kicked him in the back of his head, and Hibari was thrown onto the ground. Growling, he jumped to his feet, only to realize that the ground was back to normal. No cracks, no lava bubbling, nothing.

Whipping his head to the side, Hibari certainly didn't expect to see a baby dressed in a suit pointing a gun at Mukuro.

"You're even more pathetic than I thought, Dame-Tsuna," The infant started, voice squeaky but menacing. "I finally find you and you're losing to something like him? I'll have a lot to work on."


	5. The Skylark and the Sword

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites!

Oh, and to answer all the people who asked about whether the others will regain their memories, the hint's in the first chappie~

**I'm so sorry for not updating earlier! I swear, I can explain! So as you know, it was Summer and I should've updated a **_**whole**_** lot more than I did (ehehe), but my family and I went travelling for almost the entire break, so I barely had any time to write. And then, school started, and High School's taking a toll on me (Ugh, I actually have to start studying). But anyways, SORRY! Hope this chappie makes up for it! **

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"_You're even more pathetic than I thought, Dame-Tsuna," The infant started, voice squeaky but menacing. "I finally find you and you're losing to something like him? I'll have a lot to work on."_

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"Oh? Well, if it isn't the world's greatest hitman, Reborn," Mukuro said, unruffled by the gun aimed at him, able to blow his brains out in seconds.

"R-re-bo – geh -" Tsuna stuttered. He knew that Reborn had his own special ways of getting information and finding people, but that was way too fast! Tsuna squeaked when the familiar end of another gun was in his face (it's sad that the sight of a gun was so familiar to him now, especially when it was aimed at him).

"Stop stuttering," Reborn ordered, pointing both guns at Mukuro and Tsuna with deadly accuracy. He stood between the two, having pushed Tsuna behind him. "It is not becoming of a boss to do so."

Tsuna almost defended himself, but caught himself before he gave away any hints about his Dream/Memories. It wouldn't do, especially since Reborn would probably figure it out right away. "B-boss?"

"That's right," Reborn smirked, eyes glinting in sadistic joy. The sadistic baby must be imagining hundreds of ways to torture/train for all the years Tsuna would be under his wing. "But this isn't the place to discuss that."

"On the contrary, I would very much like to hear your explanation," Mukuro butt in, once again leaning on his trident. He smirked at the two, "I can only think of one reason as to explain why an arcobaleno would be here, especially since it involves something related to a boss."

"And," He added, readying his trident. "If it _is_ what I think it is, then I don't think that you two will be leaving here anytime soon."

Reborn snorted, unconvinced. He flicked the rim of his fedora up, beady black eyes staring at Mukuro with enough concentration to pierce a rock (or a pineapple). "Don't get ahead of yourself, Mukuro. You're not nearly good enough to make me take you seriously."

"Oh?" Mukuro's pride, as large as universe and rivaled only by Hibari Kyoya, obviously took a hit at that statement. The illusionist gripped his weapon, a menacing shadow falling across his eyes. "Then I guess that I'll just have to surprise you."

"Maybe so, but like I said, now's not the time," Reborn dismissed him, and Leon undid his transformation to crawl onto his fedora. "Rest assured, we'll meet again."

"And you think that I'll just let you get away like that?" Mukuro sneered, his red eye bursting into flames once again. "Quite confident, aren't you –"

"See you around," Reborn smirked with his fedora lowered. He grabbed Tsuna and effortlessly jumped out of the window, ignoring both the torn curtains and Tsuna's shriek of protest.

Mukuro's eye twitched at the disruption and he glared at the prefect, whose tonfas were holding Mukuro's trident immobile. "How rude of you to interrupt our conversation like that, little birdy."

Hibari returned his glare, shoving Mukuro away from him to jump towards the window. "This isn't over yet, Herbivore." He left after throwing the sentence over his shoulder, his trademark jacket the last thing Mukuro saw of the prefect. That left Mukuro all alone in the trashed room with his two knocked out subordinates, broken furniture, and ruined curtains.

"Kufufufufufufu…" He laughed, slowly lowering his trident. "Kuhahahahahaha!"

He brutally stabbed the trident into the floor, easily breaking the wooden boards. His red eye glowed with twisted amusement as he whispered, "Oh yes, this will be fun indeed… Vongola Decimo."

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

As soon as he'd deemed that they were far enough from Mukuro, Reborn threw Tsuna onto the ground. The boy cried out when he collided with the solid concrete of the ground. He curled up into a defensive ball, arms twisted around to soothe his back.

"O-ow! Can't you even be a tiny bit nicer?" Tsuna whined, gently rubbing the red marks on his arms and back. Stupid floor burns, he thought irritably. Glancing at what he could see of it, he deduced: first-degree burns. They would be sensitive for a week at most, and he would have to rinse it with cold water when he got home to avoid infection. He _knew_ that he shouldn't have slid on the ground just to get Mukuro by surprise. Past experience had already told him how annoying floor burns were, and although Tsuna and his guardians' had unnaturally high pain tolerance, floor burns were still irritating as hell.

"No," Reborn replied bluntly, stepping on Tsuna's head. "A mafia boss has no time for luxuries."

"Get off!" Tsuna grumbled, swatting Reborn's foot off of his head. What a hypocrite, he added in his mind. If the biggest mansion in the world filled with top-notch furniture, decorations, and priceless antiques his family lived in didn't count as a luxury, then he didn't know what was. Hastily, he tacked on, "And what do you mean by 'mafia boss'?"

Tsuna had to be more careful. Reborn's presence was so familiar that he was starting to relax his guard and slip around the infant. Reborn's watchful eyes narrowed momentarily, but he didn't show any other outward signs of suspicion.

"Exactly what I said," The baby replied. "You are the descendant of Vongola Primo, the founder of the most powerful and bloodiest mafia famiglia in the world, and I'm here to train you to be the next boss of the Vongola."

And as though to punctuate his statement, Reborn expertly whipped out a gun and pointed it at Tsuna with the safety flicked off in an instant. Tsuna stared at him and the gun for a few seconds before one word accidently slipped past his lips. "Clam?"

Well, you couldn't blame him, Tsuna thought as Reborn began emitting a murderous aura. He never did find out why his ancestor named his vigilante group 'Clam' of all things.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

"So, I'm basically the great-great-great grandson of Giotto, or Sawada Ieyasu, and I have to take over the mafia famiglia he created as the Vongola Decimo?"

A nod.

"And you're a baby sent to train me?"

"The world's strongest hitman, but yes."

"… Oh. Okay."

"Okay?" Reborn stared at the teen in front of him incredulously. "That's all?"

Tsuna stretched as he stood up, wincing when the bandages he'd wrapped around his burns earlier brushed against his sensitive skin. "Well, it's not like I have any say in this, right?"

Reborn frowned. It wasn't like Tsuna was wrong. In fact, he was one hundred percent right. He would train the boy and make sure that he becomes Vongola Decimo, whether Tsuna wanted to or not. But still, a part of Reborn was disappointed. The reaction he'd expected was one of shrieking and maybe disbelief. He had even prepared the appropriate… devices to deal with Tsuna if he showed any signs of hyperventilating or fainting. '_Oh well,_' the baby thought. '_All in due time. I'll use them one way or another.'_

"And now that that's over, I'm going to go and take a bath," Tsuna announced, sniffing his arm before cringing at the smell of blood and sweat. "Gross. I stink."

"Nothing surprising," Reborn said, already stripping to put on his pajamas. He could feel his internal clock signaling his approaching bed-time as he set up his hammock. "You better scrub yourself clean or I'll shoot you," He added. Reborn wasn't going to be stuck sleeping in a dirty pigsty that teenage boys seemed to be prone to live in. It was hardly hygienic to breathe the same air as dirty scums who didn't even wash themselves.

"Aye, sir," Tsuna saluted mockingly, grabbing his clothes before ducking into the bathroom. A second later, however, he popped his head back in. "Oh yeah, I bought some snacks on the way home earlier, Hibari-san. You can come in for some, if you want."

Reborn raised an eyebrow at that. He had, of course, sensed the skylark lurking outside of the window from the very start, but he hadn't expected for Tsuna to have detected the prefect's carefully hidden presence as well. There was definitely something that Tsuna was hiding, he decided. Nothing about him was matching any of the reports Iemitsu's spies had handed in. Not that he trusted those incompetent fools, especially if an even bigger idiot was commanding them.

He would be hard pressed to find someone stupider than Iemitsu, Reborn resolved. Seriously, a construction worker of all the jobs he could've chosen as a cover? It was only pure luck that the CEDEF leader had married an equally air-headed woman. Nana was a nice mother, as far as he could tell, and her cooking was superb, but still… Maybe idiots attracted even more idiots? He'd better stay away from Iemitsu then.

As Reborn had his internal debate, Hibari slid the window open to land softly in the middle of the room. A single 'hn' was the only thing he said in response to Tsuna's grin.

"They're on the kitchen table downstairs. The green tea's in the cupboard." And with that, Tsuna once again entered the bathroom to resume his original mission of cleansing himself. Satisfied with the news of his favorite beverage, Hibari pivoted on his foot and headed downstairs, his footsteps barely audible.

Reborn blinked at their interaction before continuing to set up his hammock along with a couple dozen traps. He'd like to see how well 'Dame-Tsuna' gets through _these_.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Sawada Tsunayoshi never ceased to surprise Reborn, even if it has only been less than 24 hours since he'd officially met the brunet.

The hitman had awoken to find that not only had Tsuna been able to avoid all his traps on his way to the bed, but he had also managed to get all the way around the room to grab a new set of uniform (to replace his old mangled one. R.I.P., old uniform) _and_ set up an extra futon for Hibari. Nana had apparently taken a liking to Hibari and pinched his cheeks the moment she'd laid her eyes on him. And no, your eyes do not deceive you. Someone, Sawada Nana, had actually pinched the demon prefect of Namimori on the cheeks and lived to tell the tale. Even someone as ruthless as Hibari had hesitated at the thought of hitting the bubbly woman. But it was probably for the best, as Hibari would probably find himself on the receiving end of Sawada Iemitsu's wrath if he had dared to even touch a single strand of hair beloved wife's head (and let's not forget our beloved Tsuna).

After the incident, Hibari rubbed his slightly pink cheeks and glared at Tsuna with a tonfa held up threateningly.

"Not. A. _Word_," He hissed.

"Sure, sure," Tsuna grinned, holding his hands up in surrender.

Hibari's glare deepened and his knuckles became white from gripping his tonfas so hard. "Stop _smiling_."

"Alright." As soon as he said that, Tsuna collapsed onto the ground, laughing uncontrollably with tears flowing out of his eyes. Angered, Hibari had thrown himself at Tsuna, unsatisfied until he'd managed to whack the boy upside the head after an hour of chasing him around Namimori.

But alas, I'm digressing. Reborn was now seated at the kitchen table, watching Tsuna hum happily as he ate, sipping the homemade espresso the teen had offered the baby. It was well made enough to satisfy the hitman, something that rarely happened as he always demanded the best. He wasn't the world's best hitman for nothing, after all.

"More," Hibari said, thrusting his empty plate in Tsuna's face. The brunet took the dish without protest and quickly refilled it with more of his mother's cooking. The woman had already left to take care of the laundry, leaving pre-made food on the counter with a note telling them to help themselves. Hibari barely nodded his head in thanks and dug right into the delicious food.

Nana's cooking was exquisite, Reborn thought as he finished the last of his espresso.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Yamamoto Takeshi awoke that day with the familiar weight on his chest, so heavy that it felt like his body was going to be crushed under it. But it was alright, he was used to it. As usual, he dressed quickly, ran down the stairs, shoved on his sneakers, and shouted an '_I'm going!_' to his dad before heading out. And as usual, his cheerful smile melted off the moment he stepped out of the shop, when his dad no longer able to see his face. Yamamoto kept his face angled downwards to conceal his frown from passersby. He couldn't let the mask he'd kept up for so long break, after all.

But every day, it grew harder and harder to force a smile onto his face, the corners of his lips just a tad bit harder to force up. And every day he found his smile dropping more and more often, but he always made sure that no one was around to see his frown. The mask couldn't drop, he just couldn't let it.

As he had discovered very quickly, smiling made others feel more at ease and happier. Smiles could be contagious. Smiles could heal. Just not always.

When Yamamoto was young, just after his mother had packed up and left the house, he bawled like no tomorrow. And he had expected his dad to do the same, for what man wouldn't cry when his wife left him?

But he didn't.

Instead, Yamamoto felt himself being pulled into an embrace and something landing on top of his head. His father didn't say anything or offer any words, but the smile he gave Yamamoto was enough. Even at a young age, Yamamoto had made up his mind. If his father could be strong enough to smile, even when he didn't want to, then so could he. But as the days went by, Yamamoto found it harder and harder to smile. Every fake grin was forced, the corners of his lips stiff. His laughs were equally fake. They came from his throat, not his heart, leaving a dry and bitter taste in his mouth.

Yamamoto still remembered that incident when he had collapsed in the middle of night, just when he was helping his dad clean up the shop. His dad had panicked and immediately brought him to the hospital. And when Yamamoto awoke, his dad was hovering over him, with an anxious expression that quickly melted into a relieved smile.

Then _they_ came in.

_"You're awake, Yamamoto!" _One of them slapped him in the back. Yamamoto tried his best to grin, but it faltered for a few seconds. None of them noticed.

_"Man, you had us seriously worried there, you know?"_

_ "We thought that you weren't going to ever wake up!"_

_ "Nah, that impossible. This is Yamamoto we're talking about here!"_

_ "True, true. Well, we can still count on you for the next game, right?"_

_ "Our ace will never let us down! You're lucky that you woke up before the tournament begins."_

_ "But we'll need a new training schedule if we want to beat Shoten High."_

_ "Oh, stop worrying, you worry-wart. Hey, you up for training tomorrow, Yamamoto?"_

_ They_ joked and laughed around his bed. _They_, as in his 'friends', but he knew better than to actually believe that.

Before, Yamamoto used to love baseball from the bottom of his heart. The crack of the bat, the ball whistling through the air, and the dust as he slid home. But now, everything seemed dulled. The bat felt like it weighed a ton in his hands, and he could barely hear the satisfying sound of the bat connecting with the ball through the cheering of the crowd. He didn't have time to watch the ball fly, too busy rushing to the next base with his teammates hollering in excitement. Pressure pushed down onto his shoulders. He had to make this, he couldn't fail. They were counting on him. They were counting on him to _win_.

Fun? What fun, all he needed to do was win. Rest? They needed him, he couldn't abandon them! And miss? As if he could do that!

That was what_ they _told him every day, their words haunting his dreams.

But 'they' never included him.

Never.

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Tsuna wondered if his remarkable EQ was lowering with every day he spent in the Present/Dream Past. It had been years since Tsuna had felt intense rage burning – no, _boiling _inside of him, and the hollow look on Yamamoto's face was the cause. Someone had hurt him, someone had hurt his _family. _And they were going to pay in the most painful manner possible_. _

How many years has it been since he had last seen that expression on Yamamoto's face? He had never seen it when they were all together, as a family. Yamamoto's smiles then were always bright, and most importantly, _sincere._ Sure, they may have contained sadness, anger, confusion, or anything else he could have been feeling, but never has it ever been _empty_. Like now.

To an outsider, his cheerful projection would seem truthful, and they would bask in the brightness of it. But to Tsuna and the other guardians, it was painfully obvious that it was just a mask, hiding whatever Yamamoto truly felt inside. They could tell because, damn it, they were Yamamoto's family! They stuck together, risked their lives together, watched out for each other, and _laughed _together. And Yamamoto's hollow expression? Tsuna was going to fix it, even if it was the last thing he did.

So he was quite dumbfounded when the opportunity practically offered itself up on a silver platter.

Right in front of him, Yamamoto grinned (still fake), shoving a piece of paper into Tsuna's hands. "So, do you get any of this?"

What?

Tsuna blinked down at the paper (Nezu just gave it to them), taking in the math equations scrawled all over it.

"Yamamoto… this is Algebra."

Said idiot grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Yup!"

"You really don't get anything? None of this?" Tsuna couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that Yamamoto had a bad habit of sleeping in class (he severely doubted the teachers' abilities for not noticing Yamamoto blatantly napping behind his textbook), but this was ridiculous. He would bet that even he himself had understood it in the Dream Past/Present -

Nod.

"Variables?"

Shake.

"Order of Operation?"

Confusion.

Tsuna sighed. "Go grab a pencil. We'll start from the basics."

**()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()**

Maybe Tsuna was a magician, Yamamoto thought as Tsuna began speaking, using his pencil to point at certain parts of the first equation. Less than a minute after they've spoken to each other, Yamamoto found himself _truly_ enjoying his company. No fake laughs or smiles, none at all. And the scariest part? They were doing _math _– his worst subject - of all things.

_"So you see this parenthesis – you know what that is, right? Okay, good. Basically, you add, subtract, divide, and multiply whatever's inside before you do anything else. So all you have to do is multiply this and that together before you subtract the product with this…"_

Nothing in particular was special about Tsuna, Yamamoto thought as he watched the boy explain, his teachings going in one ear and out the other. Tsuna was skinny, short for his age, and a typically quiet boy that Yamamoto barely noticed in school. Or at least, that was what Yamamoto knew after observing him. But aside from appearance and observations, there was just _something_ about Tsuna that bothered Yamamoto. Well, there was still Tsuna's hair, which curiously defied gravity, but he ignored that for now.

With him, it felt almost natural to pull out a laugh, grin naturally, and other things that Yamamoto could no longer do around others. It was definitely queer, as though Yamamoto already knew Tsuna, but his mind just didn't remember. Then, maybe…

"_And now you only have the variable on one side and the number on the other. So you just-"_

"Tsuna." Yamamoto didn't know why he had interrupted the boy mid-sentence or why his mouth was even moving in the first place, but he decided,_ to hell with this, _and just went with it_. _"Tsuna. Can I call you that?"

Yamamoto watched the stunned expression on his classmates' face (it didn't feel quite right to call him a friend yet without some kind of a sign, no matter how much he wanted to). But almost immediately, it melted into a giant grin, the biggest – no, the _only_ happy expression Yamamoto had ever seen on his face. "Takeshi."

Yamamoto beamed.


End file.
